New Partnership Aims to Integrate Member-Owned Businesses into Global Markets

In a move set to transform digital inclusion for cooperatives across Africa, DotCooperation LLC and FORUS Digital Cooperative have announced a Strategic Partnership Agreement. This collaboration will leverage trusted .coop digital identities to unlock greater economic participation for member-owned organizations.

The partnership combines DotCooperation’s global cooperative identity ecosystem with FORUS’s technical expertise and regional rollout capabilities. By utilizing the exclusive .coop domain, eligible African cooperatives can establish verifiable online presences connected directly to the worldwide cooperative movement.

From Digital Identity to Economic Integration

Rather than treating digital identity as a standalone solution, this partnership offers a comprehensive framework for transitioning member-owned entities into fully integrated digital participants:

• Identity: Securing verified .coop domains and organizational credentials
• Trust: Building transparent digital footprints with member governance
• Connection: Linking local cooperatives to national federations and regional markets
• Participation: Enabling member onboarding, digital payments, and cross-border trade
• Growth: Scaling revenue while preserving ownership structures

“Our objective is to help African cooperatives become more visible, easier to discover, and better positioned to participate in the digital economy—all while retaining their own governance and member relationships,” explained the organizations.

Practical Applications Across Sectors

FORUS is already deploying this framework across several high-impact use cases:

• Agricultural Ecosystems (TerraNexus): Connecting farmers, cooperatives, and markets through a platform powered in collaboration with the World Agriculture Forum
• Transport and Mobile Finance (WOW-Connect): Unifying membership verification, payments, and fleet management for the Eastern Cape Transport Tertiary Co-operative in South Africa—one of the largest public transport cooperatives on the continent
• Rural Enterprise Scaling (Unati Pilot): Expanding access to digital markets for women-led rural enterprises through a partnership with a cooperative in India

This initiative addresses a critical need as fintech adoption accelerates across developing markets, providing member-owned institutions with secure tools that protect local governance while enabling interoperable financial transactions.